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If the Apple Watch catapults wearable computers into the mainstream, as some observers expect, banks will be tasked to reimagine the way they provide financial services features to their customers.
September 19 -
U.S. Bank, Westpac New Zealand and Australia's Bendigo and Adelaide Bank share their experiences with Google Glass, smart watch and augmented reality banking apps. One lesson: voice commands disappoint in trials.
August 8 -
Imagine a future where we access accounts or pay for groceries using a bracelet, a wristwatch or even a temporary tattoo. Disney's MagicBand provides a glimpse of what's possible for wearable devices.
December 29 -
The trend toward connecting more devices to the Internet than just computers or phones is often referred to as the "Internet of Things."
December 29
As smart watches and glasses proliferate, banking and payments via these devices will too, says Juniper Research.
Industry vendors have been working to integrate smart wearable devices into their offerings, and the roll-out of these options will be a key trend in the coming 12 to 24 months, Juniper says.
The size of the market for such offerings may not be huge now, but Juniper expects global wearable device shipments will increase more than 400% by 2017, reaching 116 million units, up from 27 million in 2014.
Smart watches will be the primary driver, with more than 100 million in use globally by 2019, according to Juniper's forecast.
The growth for smart glasses will be slower.
Though fresh product launches from key players such as Samsung are expected in the coming two years, shipments of glasses are likely to stay below 10 million a year until at least 2018, Juniper says.
Mark Schwanhausser, director of omnichannel financial services for Javelin Strategy & Research, says watches will be the early beachhead, where consumers get acquainted with having banking and payments functions on a wearable device.
"But I see great promise with highly experimental headgear like Glass or its future iterations too," he adds. "It's important to take a longer view that is not dependent on waiting for some form of wearable to emerge as viable."
